Getting started

This page takes you from nothing to a first query: install Schemaic, connect it to a database, and run something.

Installing

Every release is on the Releases page, built for Windows and Linux on x86_64 and for macOS on Apple Silicon.

• Windows — download and run Schemaic-win-x64-Setup.exe. It installs for your user only, so it needs no admin rights, and it keeps itself up to date. The installer isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen warns you the first time: click More info, then Run anyway. If you want a copy that doesn't install or update, use the portable .zip instead.

• macOS and Linux — run the install script:

  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fadion/schemaic/main/install.sh | bash
  

  On macOS it puts Schemaic in /Applications, and the app updates itself from then on. On Debian and Ubuntu it adds Schemaic's signed apt repository, and on Fedora, RHEL and openSUSE its dnf/zypper repository, so Schemaic updates along with the rest of your system. On any other distribution it installs the self-updating AppImage. The script asks for sudo, and prints how to uninstall when it's done.

If you'd rather install by hand — the .dmg on macOS, or adding the repository from https://fadion.github.io/schemaic yourself — the project's README has the steps, including the fingerprint to check the signing key against.

The self-updating builds check for a new release in the background. When one has downloaded, a Restart to update button appears in the header. Set the environment variable SCHEMAIC_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 if you don't want Schemaic to check.

Your first connection

On first launch there's nothing to connect to yet, so the header shows New connection where the connection switcher will go. Click it.

1. Give the connection a Name, and pick its Type: MySQL (also for MariaDB), PostgreSQL, SQLite or SQL Server.
2. For a server, fill in Host, Port, User and Password. Database is optional. For SQLite, pick the Database file instead.
3. Press Test to check that Schemaic can reach the server, then Save.

Saving connects. The SCHEMA panel on the left fills with the server's databases, and the connection's name takes the place of New connection in the header.

The password goes to your operating system's keyring, not into a file. Everything else on the form — SSH tunnels, SSL / TLS, read-only mode and the rest — is covered in Connections.

Your first query

Press Ctrl+T for a new query tab, type a statement, and press Ctrl+Enter. Schemaic runs the statement under the caret, and the rows appear in the grid below the editor. On macOS, use Cmd wherever this guide says Ctrl.

To see a table's rows without writing anything, double-click the table in the schema tree.

Where to go next

• Connections — more connections, tunnels, sign-in and safeguards.
• Query editor — completion, running several statements, transactions.
• Results grid — editing rows, filtering, exporting.
• Schema — finding your way round a database and changing its structure.
• Keyboard shortcuts — or press the question-mark button in the header.